Here we go...

Traveling.....I love to do it but hate the actual act of it. So far, it's been a mess.

After many, many tears and goodbyes I left for the Philadelphia airport. When we arrived at around 3:30 pm, we got into line for baggage check and all that good stuff. Except.....my bags were both over 50 pounds by A LOT ( because I admit, I am a clothes horse) and the fee would have cost an extra $300.

Thank God I am good at cramming and shoving things into my carry on, because I dodged a bullet there, both figuratively and literally, because I'm pretty sure my Mom would have shot me if she had to pay an extra $300 because of my clothes and books.

Then, came the hard part. I had been saying goodbyes all day...to my Nana, to my best friends, and now...my family. It was really hard to say goodbye but I know that this is the right decision for me and that they are all supporting me.

Then I sniffled myself all the way through baggage, crying the whole time. Because I had to shove things in my carryon, it was top-heavy and kept falling on the man behind me. I felt bad for him, he had to deal with a falling suitcase and a crying girl the entire time we made our way through security.

To make matters worse, I had to wear my horseback riding shoes in the airport ( because I rearranged my luggage to save money), and after security as I was walking to my gate, the buckles somehow merged together, creating a sort of death trap, and as I was walking it nearly made me fall and completely tore off the front of my left boot, which made me cry harder. I must have looked like a complete and utter idiot, because I felt like one. Luckily, I had an extra pair of shoes in my carry on so I trashed the broken ones and finally got myself situated at my gate.

Then, the free wifi at the Philly airport wouldn't work so I spent about 45 mins trying to work that, unsuccessfully. But a little bit after, we boarded the plane to Zurich, Switzerland.

The flight to Zurich was alright. I sat next to a French girl that fell asleep on me a few times (which I was so jealous of because I could't get to sleep!) I did manage to altogether get maybe an 1hr 30 mins sleep, which is surprisingly really good for me, especially on a plane.

Then when I got off at the airport in Zurich I somehow wandered to where I was supposed to be and found myself on a train through the airport. I had a 3 and a half hour layover, so I had a nice capuccino in Switzerland, (How cool does that sound? haha) and went on my laptop for a while. Then I made my way over to the gate and everything went pretty smoothly.

It was a 2 hour flight to Valencia, and I´m pretty sure that I was the only English speaking one, besides the flight attendent. The man in front of me must have been some comedian, because he was cracking so many jokes that had the whole plane laughing. Obviously I didn´t understand, so I felt like the whole plane was in cahoots and I had no idea what was going on. Oh well, I look forward to the day when I can actually understand the jokes people say.

My host family was there waiting as soon as I got out of baggage. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am a clothes horse as it is, so imagine me packing for an entire year. I brought 2 large suitcases with me and a smaller suitcase as a carryon. The only problem is, Europe is not like America. They don´t have large cars or very large sized rooms, and I, being the silly American that I am, forgot about that. We did manage to fit my bags in the car, along with Miguel and Angela (my host parents) and my counselor, Ramona.

Before we left however, we ate dinner in the airport at a restaurant and it was very good. I had gazpacho soup and pork and vegetables( I forget the Spanish name). For dessert, I had a fruit salad of tropical fruit, some of which I had never eaten, but it was very good.

The car ride from Valencia to Benissa is about an hour and a half, and believe me, I tried my best to stay awake the whole time, so I could see the beautiful landscape, but it was too hard. I was so tired, and fell asleep most of the way.

The house is not actually in the town of Benissa, but right outside it in el campo (the countryside). It is a beautiful stucco house, with a large terrace and yard. The rooms are fairly large also, but the best part is the views around the house. There are vineyards of orange trees and mountains and it is so gorgeous.

I freshened up, slept a little, met the neighbors, learned some new Spanish words, ate dinner (pan con tomatoe) and drank cafe con leche with Miguel anad Angela on the terrace at night. It was a very successful day in Spain, if I do say so myself.